DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
The Department of Justice said it indicted six people for taking
out 36 mortgages worth $20.8 million by giving lenders false
employment and salary data for people they recruited for their good
credit histories.
The charges--10 counts of conspiracy and wire fraud--were
unsealed Thursday from a May 2008 indictment, before the credit
crisis had taken hold and banks had yet to sharply raise their
lending standards.
The indictment alleges the six people enlisted "straw buyers,"
people who agree for their name or credit to be used to purchase a
home they never intend to live in or control. Two of the people
charged then would make up mortgage applications with false work
and salary histories to go along with the straw buyers' good credit
scores, according to the Justice Department.
The six then submitted the false applications to such banks as
First Franklin Corp. (FFHS), WMC Mortgage Corp. and Countrywide
Home Loans, now part of Bank of America Corp. (BAC).
The defendants charged with participating in the conspiracy are
Brian Andrew La Porte, Daniel John Schuetz, Michael Wayne Wickware,
Roxanne Yvette Hempstead, Darryl Anthony Wallace, and Terrence
Smith.
-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291;
joan.solsman@dowjones.com